Power-operated brake.



. To all whom it may concern:

v Beit known that I, FRANK E. CASE, a citi- 1 zen of the United States, residing at Schenoperating means.

'UNITED sTATEs PATENT OEEICE.

FRANK E. CAS, YOF SCHENCTADY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNORTO GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION OE NEW YORK.

l y PowER-oPERATED BRAKE.

l Specification of Letters Patent. l

Patented Oct. 23, 1 906.

Application filed June 9,1904. Serial No. 211,754.

ectady, county of Schenectady, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements' in Power-Operated Brakes, of which the following is a specification. Y

My invention relates to brakesfor vehicles and its objectI is to provide a simple, reliable, and ow'erful brake which is articularly app-liza le for use on. electrical y-propelled vec es. i i K Onv high-speed electric cars in order to insure safety ofoperation 1t is necessa to employ more powerful brakes than suc. as can e manually applied. The use of compressed air for the braking mechanism, however,

g greatly increases the expense of the brakes,

and 1n case of the failure of the air-compressor manually-operated brakes must be relied upon.

By my invention I provide'a power-oper- `ated brake' comprising a powerful spring tendingto ap ly the brakes and power-operated means or com ressing the spring to release the brake. f) furthermore provide manually-controlled means for releasing the brakes in' case' of the failure of the power- The application of the brakes, however,'is at all times controlled by the spring and is in no way dependent for its effectiveness upon the operative condition of the power-operated means.

My invention will best be understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which#- Figure 1 shows a plan view of a braking mechanism arranged in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 shows an elevation of the same, and Fig. 3 shows a detail view of the auxiliary manually-operated releasing means.

In the drawings, A represents a cross-head or piston arranged to reciprocate within' the guides or cylinder B.

S is a powerful compression-spring which tends to move the cross-head A towardthe' left, so as to move the levers C C to apply the brakes. vided with a piston-'rod D, which is formed with gear-teeth at its end which are engaged vby the inion E, mounted on the shaft e.

'lhe sha t e has keyed to it one-member F of 'I'he cross-head or piston A is prothe clutch is loosely j ournaled on the shaft e. A

The member F is provided with gear-teeth on its eri hery which are engaged byaworm 'm on t e s aft ofthe electric motor M. Thus 'when the two membersv F F of the frictionclutch fare in engagement and the motor M is energized the piston A will be moved toward the rlght, compressing sprin S andreleasing the brakes. The member Fg of the frictionclutch is arran ed to be axially moved on the shaft e by the ell-crank lever G, controlled by the rod H. The rod H carries at its other end a roller h, which bears against 'a cam 'i on` the shaft Liwhich is provided with a handle J. By reciproca-ting handle J Irod H may be pushedlongitudinally to bring -the two lmembers of the friction -clutch into engagement or may be allowed to move in the opposite direction to release the clutch.

The shaft I also carries a controller K, which inthe position shown completes a` circuit from the trolley T orother source of current to the switch L, which controls the circuit of motor M. The switch L comprises two stationary contacts and the movable contact l, which is' provided with the compressionspring Z -tending to move it into enga ement with the stationary contact, and is a so provided with a rod or spindle Z2, arranged to e engaged by an arm a, projecting from the I ien controller K is in the position shown and the movable contact l is in engagement with its stationary contacts, the motor-cir-l cuit is closed from trolley-T to earth, and the motor is thereby energized to release the brakes. The shaft I also carries a plate N,

provided with a cam n and avspring-pressed pawl n. The s ringressed pawl n engages a toothed Whee O w en the controller is in the position shown. The cam n is arranged to engage a second pawl o when the sha t I 'is reciprocated and to force the awl o out of engagement with theJ toothed w eel O. The toothed wheel O carries on its shaft a drum P, which is connected by a chain Q to a rod R, which engages the piston-rod D. Drin normal operation of the brakes the chain is left hanging loosely, as shown in Fig. 2, and

gston A through a slot in the cylinder B.

ICC

performs no part 1n the operation of the brakes. It comes into operation only when the power fails and the brakes must be manually released, as will be hereinafter explalned.

' ..L. This represents the normal running posame time movable contact Z is pressed into the brakes, handle J is returned to the posis "By pushing handle J in a counter-clockwise and tightening chain Q. The pawl o The operation is as follows: With the controller-in the position shown the motor-circuit has been closed to move piston A4 toward the right, compressin spring S until the oint was reached at W ich the arm a, carried by piston A, engaged spindle l2 and opened the circuit of motor M at the switch sition of the several parts. The two members F F of the friction-clutch are held in en-l agement with the handle J in this position y cam i, and roller h. New if it is desired to ap ly the brakes the handle J is rotated in a clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 1. The rod H is thus allowed to move forward to'release member F from member F The shaft e and its pinion E are consequently free to revolve, and iston A is moved quickly toward the left `y spring S, givin lr a powerful application of the brakes. At t e engagement with the stationary contacts by the spring l. When it is desired to release tion shown. The circuit of motor M is then closed, since switch L is in its closed position. The two members of the friction-clutch are also restored to engagement with each other. The motor M consequently starts, drivin the pinion E through the friction-clutch and moving piston A to the right, compressing spring,r S. nThis continues until switch L is opel `ed by the arm a engaging the spindle Z2. Should it be found that the power has failed after an application of the brakes, the brakes maybe released manually, as follows:

direction, as viewed in Fig. 1, the spring-` pressed pawl n (shown in Fig. 3) rotates toothed wheel 0, thereby rotating drum P revents a backward movement of the toot ied wheel, while handle J is moved back to repeat the operation. Thus the toothed w eel may be rotated step by step, drawing rod R forward and com ressing s ring S and releasing the brakes. thus been released manually if ,it is desired to again apply them the application is accomplishe( 1n the same manner as has been heretofore described. By moving'the handle J in arlockwise direction the cam n is brought into engagement with the pawl 0, rocking it out of engagement with the toothed wheel O. The pawl n is rotated out of engagement with the toothed wheel O by the rotation of the plate N. The drum P is thus released and the piston is free to move under the influence of lthe spring. Thus with this arranglement a quick and powerful application offt e brakes may be at all times o tained and failure of the power-operated means hasl no eifect upon the efficiency of the fter the rakes have ap lication. n

i any modiiicatlons in the constructionl and arrangement of parts will be obvious to those skilled in the art, and l aim in the appended claims to cover all such modifications which are within the scope of my invention.

Whatl claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

k1. In a vehicle, in combination with the brakes, a spring for applying the brakes, a motor for releasing the brakes, a clutch between said motor and said s ring, a motor controller, and a single hand e for governing the operation of said clutch and said controller.

2. In a vehicle, in combination with the brakes, a spring for applying the brakes, a power-operated motor for releasimT the brakes, a clutch between said motor and said sipring, and manuallycontrolled means for isengaging said clutch to allow the s ring to apply the brakes and for engaging sai clutch and energizing said motor to release the brakes.

3. In a vehicle, in combination with the brakes, a spring for applying the brakes, a power-operated motor for releasin the brakes, a clutch between said motor an said spring, manually-controlled means for disengaging said clutch to allow the spring to apply the brakes and for engaging said clutch and energizing said motor to re ease the brakes, and automatic means for denergizing said motor when the brakes are released.

4. In a vehicle, in combination with the brakes, a spring for a plying the brakes, an electric motor for re easing the brakes, a clutch between said motor and said spring, a manually-controlled switch for energizing said motor, and an automatic switch for breaking the motor-circuit when the brakes are released.

5. In a vehicle, in combination with'the brakes, a spring for applying the brakes, a

ower-operated motor for releasing the rakes, a clutch between said motor and said spring, and auxiliary manuallyoperated means for releasing the brakes.

6. In a vehicle, in combination with the brakes, a spring for applyin the brakes, a power-operated motor geare to said spring and ada ted to strain said spring to release the bra ies, auxiliary manually operated means for straining said s ring to release the brakes, and means for re easmg said spring to apply the brakes.

7. n a vehicle, in combination with the brakes, a spring Vfor applyin the brakes, a power-operated motor geare to said'spring and ada ted tol strain said spring to release the bra es, auxiliary manually operated means for straining said spring to release the brakes, and means\ controlled by a single handle for releasin said spring from both the power-operate and manuzilly-operated straining means to apply the brakes.

8. In a vehicle. in combination with the IOO IlO

brakes, a sp for applyint' G the brakes, a oweropersltls moto l. brakes, auxiliary manually-operated means eneirgized to restore them to release position,

u an

i r for releasing the for releasing the brakes, a manually-controlled-shaft, and tvo cams carried thereby and arranged toA release said spring 'from the power-operated and the manually-operated rake-re easing means res ectively.

9. In a vehicle, in comlbination with the brakes, a spring tending to apply the brakes, a power-operated motor for c releasing the brakes, auxiliary manually-operated means for releas' A the brakes, and a manually-conf trolled sha arranged in one osition torelease said 'spring to apply the rakes, in another osition to energize said motor to release t e brakes, and by successivemovements to -a. third position to operate said auxiliary brake-releas' means.

`10. In a ve 'cle, incombination with the brakes, a spring tending to a ply the brakes, means for restraining the bra es in release pcf sition, means for'disengaging the brakes from the restra' means, a power-operated motor geared to the brakes and adapted Vwhen automatic means for denergizing said motor when the brakes are in release position.

11. In a vehicle, in combination with thev brakes, a spring tending to apply the brakes, means for restra' the brakes in release osition,-means for isengaging the' brakes om the restraining means, a ower-operated motor geared to the brakes and adapted when energized to restore them tol release position, and auxiliary manually-operated means for moving the brakes to release osition.

12. A braking mechanism fldr vehicles comrising a braking-spring, a reciprocati bar or compressing the same and a motor aving a rotating armature for reciprocating the said bar.

13. A braking apparatus for vehicles comrising a tension-spring, a reciprocating rod ibr compressing the same, a rack carried by the said rod, a pinion engaging' the rack and a motor for rotating the pinion and reciprocating the rack in compressing the spring. 14. Abraking mechanism for vehic escomprising a brake-rigging, a brakinspring, a reciprocatingcompressing mem er interposed between the said and the said spring and electrically-rotate member for reciprocatin the said rod.

15. A bra ini mechanism comprising a brake-rigging, a raking-spring, an abutment engaging one end of the spring, a reciprocating. member engaging the ot er end of the vsprm levers connecting said reciprocating mem er with the brake-riggmg anelectr-ic motor and a rotatingl member actuated by the said motor for actuating the reciprocating member.

16. A braking mechanism for vehicles comprising a brake-applying spring, brake-rigging connected With the same, a reciprocating -member connecting with the brake-rigging and capable of compressing said spring, a motor having a rotat' armature for actuat the spring-compressing member and handoperatedy mechanism a so connected with the compressing member for compressing the spring or preventing the release of t e brakes.

In Witness whereof I hereunto se my hand this 8th day of June, 1904.

FRANK E. CASE. 

